My friends, I come not to praise journalism, but to bury it. And appropriately enough, like last week’s fish, it will be wrapped in the pages of the New York Post, which this morning — as it does each and every day — proved that while sex sells, so does nastiness in general.
Get it? BUST-ed? Those rapier-sharp wits are worth every penny the Post pays them!
The definition of journalism is “writing characterized by the direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.” Call me crazy, but the following sentence would seem to be a tad less than objective:
“Unwelcome Libyan thug Moammar Khadafy biefly found a comfy spot to rest his foul head yesterday.”
Thug? Foul head?
The piece in question goes on to say Khadafy received “a zero’s welcome”, calls him an “international pariah” and even imply that the visiting dignitary — which is what he is, no matter ones stance on his politics — prefers living in outhouses.
Were this an editorial — the section of a newspaper in which writers are free to opine to their hearts content — it would be a different story, but this is considered a “news story” by the good folks at the New York Post… who actually called the man a “desert rat” on the front page.
It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it!
This is not an abheration but rather an every-day occurence in the pages of the popular New York City paper. Interestingly, if one flips through and looks closely at the source for stories, a distinction quickly becomes clear: Those obtained form legitimate wire services such as the Associated Press are practically offensive-adjective free while those penned in house have the lurid appeal of a tawdry romance novel.
So freely does the paper weave fact and opinion together that there seems little need for an editorial page. Given the words used to describe Khadafy in the “news” story it hardly comes as a surprise when Hugo Chavez is dubbed a “gasbag.”
This is not to say that the men in question are deserving of respect, but rather to point out that it is the job of a journalist to but aside all bias and report objectively. Perhaps the Post might want to consider hiring a few people who actually understand the difference between informing the public and bloviating. Then again, the Post is owned by good ol’ Rupert Murdoch, and if there’s one thing we know about the man — who also happens to own Fox News Channel — it’s that rhetoric and fear-mongering are far more valuable to him than facts or even, God forbid, civility.
As Murdoch’s fellow tycoon, Warren Buffet, once said, “The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is, for to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves… and the better the teacher, the better the student body.” If that’s true, I can only assume that the readers of the New York Post are what we might politely call the “special kids.”
